The team has climbed high enough in public recognition and respect to at least get a few good boots at the ceiling--thanks to the success of Mia Hamm and her teammates in the Women's World Cup finals played on U.S. soil.

Win or lose in Saturday's title game, the American team's play has fueled and sustained an overwhelmingly positive burst of publicity via stories and advertisements in newspapers, magazines and television.

The good vibes have generated huge crowds (nearly a half-million all told for six U.S. games); favorable TV ratings (an ESPN soccer-broadcast record 2.9 million households for the July 4 U.S.-Brazil semifinal); plentiful player endorsements; and a palpable, if immeasurable, buzz on the street.

But how long can this shout echo? What does all this mean for the future of soccer and women's sports in this country? How much can be built from a positive aftereffect?

"Right now, it's still an event, albeit an incredibly enthusiastic display of unselfish, uncynical athleticism and patriotic fervor," said DePaul University sociology professor John Koval, whose expertise includes sports. "But we don't see a continuum yet. This isn't enough to create a fabric that shows women's sports are here to stay."

Tennis legend Billie Jean King, a longtime crusader for financial equity for women in sports, sees revenues as a critical thread in that fabric.

If the American players "are drawing 80,000 people for one match, they are marketable and they should be paid accordingly," King said.

Comparing their status with her generation of women tennis players as they began organizing, King said, "They need a vehicle for growth, whether it is a professional league, prize money or some revenue stream.

"If they are to create stars, they have to have a financial incentive."

Donna Lopiano, director of the King-founded Women's Sports Foundation, put it bluntly: "There's a very good possibility that women will finally make soccer the next big American sport. . . . The next big question is, `Where is the pro league?' "

The United States Soccer Federation, prime organizer of the men's professional Major League Soccer, indicated last week it would begin considering a women's pro league.

But the idea is not likely to advance until after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Between now and then, the U.S. women's team will likely have to sustain its momentum through international pre-Olympics competition.

"It's hard to imagine that there wouldn't be a loss of momentum," said Val Ackerman, president of the Women's National Basketball Association. In 1996, the WNBA used the Atlanta Olympics as a springboard to introduce its inaugural plans.

"In hindsight, that worked to our advantage," said Ackerman, whose league gets ongoing promotional and financial help from the NBA.

Cautioning that women's leagues do not necessarily benefit from each other's successes--just as men's basketball, baseball, football and hockey thrive or struggle separately--Ackerman said, "Selling a onetime event like the World Cup is far different from the night-in, night-out selling of a league. For us, the novelty is over. Patriotism is different from team loyalty."

While minimizing any specific shared benefits between the World Cup and the WNBA, Ackerman said there is a larger partnership: "The World Cup affirms and cements that there is an audience for women's sports and that women's sports are becoming mainstream."

"This World Cup has been an event that transcends soccer," Steve Risser, ESPN vice ptesident of programming, said. "This event has exceeded all our expectations."

That is good news short-term. But it doesn't answer long-term questions such as whether a women's pro soccer league would succeed, particularly on the heels of a men's league only four years old.

"Is there enough sponsorship on an annual basis to support men's and women's soccer leagues?" Risser asked. "What happens when you spread the great American women World Cup athletes over six or eight different teams?"

ESPN would be willing to take a "moderate risk, but not an extraordinary risk" on a league, he said, adding, "No network is going to look at a significant schedule of games without seeing sponsorship in place."

For the World Cup, ESPN bought the rights fees and televised 32 games, two in partnership with ABC. Its commitment to televising women's sports ranges from soccer to college softball and basketball to WNBA games.